Minolta Dimage 5400

Minolta scanners, scanner support and replacement choices
Mark K
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Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by Mark K »

Not having luck using this with

1. firewire
2. vista

Any idea?
David Kilpatrick
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Scrap Vista... that will be your problem. No new drivers will be around for the 5400, so it may have to remain on 'legacy' host machines.

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harveyzone
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by harveyzone »

Mark K wrote:Not having luck using this with

1. firewire
2. vista

Any idea?
You could try VueScan (http://www.hamrick.com/). I am not sure if it works with your scanner, but they have a trial version that you could try. I have used it with a couple of my obsolete scanners that will never get vista drivers and it works very well (with more control than the original software supplied).
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Tom
Mark K
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by Mark K »

Thanks

Luckily I have an old machine with XP and......I did purchase Vuescan, though do not like its interface
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harveyzone
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by harveyzone »

Mark K wrote:Luckily I have an old machine with XP and......I did purchase Vuescan, though do not like its interface
Yes, the interface takes some getting used to. Vuescan has a lot of functionality, but is not very pretty. It has served me well without the need for dual boot/legacy machines etc in limited space.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

I think the interface of vuescan and silverfast is pretty oddball to be honest.
Still not worked out which is the best, vuescan for some silverfast for other jobs. I wish software makers would put more work in, vuescan has some amazingly dumb sliders for adjustment of simple areas, wb and exposure are the most obvious, and the layout is not really very user friendly. Silverfast baffles newcomers, though it's ok to use when you get used to it. I think they could do a lot better. Still, the output is good.
Yagil Henkin
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Do silverfast/Vuescan produce better results

Unread post by Yagil Henkin »

Than minolta's own scanning software?
I have the 5400II and I'm considering a different software, but I'm not sure.
alphaomega
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400 & 5400 II & Vista SP1

Unread post by alphaomega »

I have the Minolta Dimage Elite 5400 II, which I am using on a PC equipped with XP. I gather from the correspondence above that both the original 5400 and the 5400 II are coming to grief on Vista unaided. That is a pity as I am just about to purchase a new and faster PC with Vista Home Premium SP1.

Would I actually be able to scan (difficult interface or not) with the Vuescan software? Anyone with experience of actually getting quality 48 bit TIFF images out of the 5400 II using Vista? I would dearly love to know and how to do it. My son has/gets a lot of slides we need to scan and a dedicated slide scanner is a must. Not keen on shelving out £800 for a decent Nikon if I don't have to.

Please help. Presumably an alternative would be to partition drive C and install XP on one of the partitions. That would be going beyond my current capabilities, but that may be the way to go if everything else fails. I could probably get the local computer shop to do it for me. Just think of the complications of having it verified by Microsoft on a non Internet PC.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Vuescan should work the scanner no problems. I don't have the Minolta one, but I have tried other non vista supported scanners with vuescan and vista.

With XP, you may have trouble with activation, you may not. If you have a new machine built, then it will of course ask for activation, you can do this via telephone though, I managed to get MS to activate my OEM copy, even though almost all my hardware had changed. Retail versions are less fussy. David might have a point about keeping a legacy pc around for older stuff.
alphaomega
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400 & Vista

Unread post by alphaomega »

Having looked at the Vuescan interface and not liked it one bit I have resolved to purchase a new PC with Vista 64 bits and game type performance for image manipulation. I will keep my XP PC for scanning and other mundane activities. I shall set up a local wired network involving the two PCs, printer and scanners and that will be me set for the next few years - I hope. We just cannot do without a capable dedicated slide scanner in the family and a new Nikon would cost as much as a fast new PC - which I need anyway.
Mark K
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by Mark K »

Very similar here. Vuescan produces decent images but.....the interface is a bit too complicated. Only my old XP can connect 5400 but even though the firewire does not work.
alphaomega
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by alphaomega »

On 11 Dec. I wrote:
Having looked at the Vuescan interface and not liked it one bit I have resolved to purchase a new PC with Vista 64 bits and game type performance for image manipulation. I will keep my XP PC for scanning and other mundane activities. I shall set up a local wired network involving the two PCs, printer and scanners and that will be me set for the next few years - I hope. We just cannot do without a capable dedicated slide scanner in the family and a new Nikon would cost as much as a fast new PC - which I need anyway.
Having looked at all the PC options I ended up in the local PC store. The chap offered to build me a new PC with a genuine copy of XP Home. I ended up with an XP PC with Intel Q9300 quad processor, 4 Gb of 800 RAM (only 3.25 Gb usable with 32 bits processing) 1 Gb of video card, two 1 Gb HDD, DVD burner and player, memory card reader etc. for the pricely sum of £740.00. I am now set up for the next few years with the full use of all my old software and hardware, including the priceless Dimage 5400II. I did not like Vuescan at all looking at their Web site and buying a Nikon film scanner the equal of my 5400 would have cost me as much as the new PC. As I use a separate PC with Vista for Internet access I will have no worries about security updates in the longer term for XP.
MFS
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by MFS »

I found this on an other forum. Perhaps you can use it

A couple of weeks ago I had to upgrade my machine and install Vista (Business, 32). At first I feared my 5400 would turn into an expensive doorstop, however, I discovered that not only Vuescan, but Minolta DiMAGE Scan (the final version, 1.1.5, available from Minolta.com) and <ta-daa!> SilverFast 6.4, work fine under Vista. So far, I haven't crashed the machine, so I guess I have a scanner for a few years. Silverfast 6.6 claims to work under Vista for the 5400 but it costs almost as much as the scanner did. :-(

Drivers and software can be found here
http://ca.konicaminolta.com/support/ame ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck and keep us posted.
John.

Sony A700 - KMD7D + Grip - HS5600 D and some Minolta Lenses
MFS
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by MFS »

I found this on an other forum. Perhaps it might be any help to you.

A couple of weeks ago I had to upgrade my machine and install Vista (Business, 32). At first I feared my 5400 would turn into an expensive doorstop, however, I discovered that not only Vuescan, but Minolta DiMAGE Scan (the final version, 1.1.5, available from Minolta.com) and <ta-daa!> SilverFast 6.4, work fine under Vista. So far, I haven't crashed the machine, so I guess I have a scanner for a few years. Silverfast 6.6 claims to work under Vista for the 5400 but it costs almost as much as the scanner did. :-(

Drivers and software can be found here
http://ca.konicaminolta.com/support/ame ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck and keep us posted.
John.

Sony A700 - KMD7D + Grip - HS5600 D and some Minolta Lenses
alphaomega
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Re: Minolta Dimage 5400

Unread post by alphaomega »

MFS wrote:
A couple of weeks ago I had to upgrade my machine and install Vista (Business, 32). At first I feared my 5400 would turn into an expensive doorstop, however, I discovered that not only Vuescan, but Minolta DiMAGE Scan (the final version, 1.1.5, available from Minolta.com) and <ta-daa!> SilverFast 6.4, work fine under Vista. So far, I haven't crashed the machine, so I guess I have a scanner for a few years. Silverfast 6.6 claims to work under Vista for the 5400 but it costs almost as much as the scanner did. :-(

Drivers and software can be found here
http://ca.konicaminolta.com/support/ame" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... index.html
I clicked through on the link to find that the Dimage 5400II software available for download has No. 1.0.2 rather than 1.1.5 as listed above. In any event I have purchased my new PC with XP and frankly I much prefer to work with XP. To me Vista is a missed opportunity. I fail to understand how Microsoft could engage thousands for years and spend millions of dollars to come up with this "mouse" when it should have been an "elephant". Vista Windows Explorer alone is sufficient to put me off Vista.
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